A bulimic student suffered the "most distressing" death after becoming "psychologically addicted" to a toxic slimming aid she bought online, a court heard.

The night before her death, Eloise Parry, 21, had taken eight of the diet pills containing the poisonous Dinitrophenol (DNP).

Prosecutor Richard Barraclough QC told Inner London Crown Court that taking the chemical has been described as "playing Russian roulette", as "you might survive, you might not".

Albert Huynh, Bernard Rebelo and Mary Roberts are being prosecuted for manslaughter by Harrow Borough Council over her death.

They are also charged with supplying an "unsafe" food supplement containing DNP on the market between February 24 2014 and February 24 2016.

Roberts denies a further charge of money laundering by allegedly transferring £20,000 for and on behalf of Rebelo.

Eloise Aimee Parry

Mr Barraclough said: "On April 12 2015, a vulnerable and young woman aged 21 years suffered a most distressing death, having bought from the defendants - on the internet - and consumed a highly toxic chemical called Dinitrophenol (DNP).

"Eloise Parry had an eating disorder and had been diagnosed as bulimic."

Jurors were told that Ms Parry started taking the chemical in pill form in February 2015.

In the weeks before her death, Ms Parry - who had a history of self-harming - was admitted to hospital numerous times, suffering from the effects of taking the chemical.

She sent desperate messages to her friends telling them she wanted to stop taking the pills but was "psychologically addicted" and knew that feeling her temperature rise meant her fat was burning, jurors heard.

Between February and April 2015, the student at Glyndwr University in Wrexham, allegedly made multiple purchases of DNP from the defendants' website.

"Essentially, this is what happened to Eloise Parry," said Mr Barraclough.

Huynh, 33, from Northolt, north-west London, Rebelo, 30, and Roberts, 32, both from Gosport in Hampshire, deny two counts each of manslaughter, and one count each of supplying an unsafe food. Roberts faces a single count of money laundering.